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2. U.S. - Russia: Putin Picks a Successor
- Author:
- Joseph Ferguson
- Publication Date:
- 01-2008
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Comparative Connections
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- Now that the world is finally coming around to understanding the man Vladimir Putin and what it is he represents, he appears to be stepping down – sort of. In December, Putin named his preferred successor, longtime aide and fellow Petersburger Dmitri Medvedev. While George Bush proclaims to have understood Putin after their first meeting in 2001, most Russia observers in the U.S. have been arguing over Putin and what his government represents for the better part of eight years. Does he represent a true change for Russia (a democratic change for the better) or is he steering that nation back to more historically familiar, repressive patterns? Now that the Kremlin has come forward with its own explanation, and has been bandying about the term “sovereign democracy,” the question of what Putin and the Kremlin represent is no longer hard to decipher. Russia has chosen a path that is by no means unique: a mercantilist, authoritarian form of democratic government that is very familiar to Asia watchers. What is becoming apparent is that, if anything, the U.S. form of democracy is the unique model, difficult to copy and long in development. Russia and other infant democracies may arrive one day, but “sovereign democracy” is here for the time being in Russia.
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Kremlin, and Asia
3. Russia - The Presidency: Opaque as Always
- Author:
- Malcolm Rifkind
- Publication Date:
- 12-2007
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Institution:
- Chatham House
- Abstract:
- The new man has arrived in the Kremlin as unexpectedly as his predecessor, who made the selection this time. With the Russian political season only half over – the formal presidential election is next month – thoughts are already focused on the decisions ahead.
- Political Geography:
- Russia and Kremlin
4. Siloviki versus liberal-technocrats: The fight for Russia and its foreign policy
- Author:
- Jørgen Staun
- Publication Date:
- 07-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- The window of opportunity for ensuring Russian democracy is closed or rapidly closing, at least in the intermediate term. Putin's so-called “managed democracy” has turned the Putin-regime into an autocratic system of power where all matters of importance, be it of domestic or foreign policy concern, are decided upon by the members of the small, non-elected elite of powerful bureaucrats surrounding Putin. Elections, parties, court-decisions, major media as well as major business deals – especially in so-called “strategic sectors” of oil, gas, metals and arms – are controlled by the Kremlin, based upon a closed matrix of private, corporate, organisational and national interests. Russia is still a market-based society where property rights are generally accepted – even if they are suspect of turf wars between competing clans and well-connected business groups. But “rule of law” in Russia is at least in high-profile cases a matter of “telephone justice”, that is, rulings are decided outside and not inside the courts.
- Topic:
- International Relations and Development
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Kremlin, Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia, and Maryland